Increasing Vocabulary Through Reading

Reading in the classroom is the perfect opportunity to introduce students to new (Tier 2) vocabulary. Books have numerous words contained throughout them, which students either read or hear; some words may be new, old, familiar, or unfamiliar to the students. There are several ways in which vocabulary can be taught through reading. 1. Read Alouds Read Alouds provide a great opportunity to have classroom discussions about new words that are encountered while reading. During a read aloud, teachers should give the students a few words to listen for, which gives them a purpose for listening. Students should try to use context clues to determine the meaning of the words (Cunningham, 2006). Students may also use background knowledge, pictures, and surrounding words in the sentence to determine meaning of the word. A wonderful tool students can use is an Anticipation Guide. This resource gives the students the opportunity to write an initial definition of the word before hearing the story, and then they revise their definition once they have heard the word in the story. This generates a great class discussion about the new words. For younger students (K-2), I would give them one word to listen for and the older students no more than 4 words. It is crucial to have a class discussion about the words after you have finished reading the story or finished reading for the day. This is a time where the students share what they think the meaning of each of the words is. While discussing you need to reread the section of the story where the word was used. Once the class has determined the meaning of the word, you can have a student write the word on a large index card or a sentence strip with a picture. The word would then be placed on the classroom word wall. Anticipation Guide

2. Independent Reading Independent reading is a time for students to read new books that they have picked, and are on topics that interest them. It is important for students to be able to read books that they choose , as their excitement will lead them to read it! While students are reading, you can give them a word journal, where they record new words that they find. Donna Ware, a 5th grade teacher, has created a Word Finder bookmark for her students to use while reading. They list the new vocabulary words they find while reading and record them. After independent reading is over they have a class discussion with the new words the students have found following the same routine as a read aloud (Baumann, Edwards & Ware, 2007). 3. Picture Walks Picture walks provide a great opportunity to discuss what will happen in a story prior to reading. They also gives you a chance to have a discussion about new words the students will hear as you read. As you talk about the words in the book, it gives you an opportunity to determine the meaning of the words and how they can be used (Cunningham, 2006). Picture walks can be done with read alouds or with books students will be reading independently. This is an activity you can do as a whole group or in smaller groups such as Guided Reading.